Blog Archives

Today’s opening word simply has to go to Ben Godar, who, in a marvelous little piece for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, offers exactly what we’ve all been frantically (if unwittingly) yearning for during our past two decades of seeking total fulfillment in cyberspace:

Are you tired of being in the slow lane with your current internet provider? Switch over today and we promise speeds so fast, you will lose your faith in God.

DSL can lag, especially if you’re far from the access point, and the cable companies are notorious for outages. But with our premium service, you can rest assured you will be always fast, always on and always alone in the universe.

No more waiting for that web page to load, that attachment to download or that divine spirit to listen to your prayers. Once you’re online with us, you will be surfing the web, sharing files and accepting the random folly of existence faster than you ever dreamed.

. . . While you may experience a profound sense of ennui at the realization that your existence is lonely and temporal, it will soon be washed away as you stream Netflix while surfing the web . . . without that annoying buffering!

* * *

The Confidential Memo at the Heart of the Global Financial Crisis (Greg Palast for Vice)
“The Memo confirmed every conspiracy freak’s fantasy: that in the late 1990s, the top US Treasury officials secretly conspired with a small cabal of banker big-shots to rip apart financial regulation across the planet. When you see 26.3 percent unemployment in Spain, desperation and hunger in Greece, riots in Indonesia and Detroit in bankruptcy, go back to this End Game memo, the genesis of the blood and tears.”

Economic Fears are Fueling a New Twist to Horror Film Genre (Le Monde, via Worldcrunch)
“[T]he end of the world as represented in several contemporary productions should not be seen as a millenarian threat but rather as the disappearance of a social bond that was damaged by the general workings of the economy. . . . [T]he fantasy of these extravagant tales hides a more tangible dread, that of dispossession, as if these nighmarish scenarios were born from the crisis of a globalized economy.”

Fukushima leak is ‘much worse than we were led to believe’ (BBC News)
Take note: this is a real-world disaster movie unfolding right before us. “A nuclear expert has told the BBC that he believes the current water leaks at Fukushima are much worse than the authorities have stated. . . . Meanwhile the chairman of Japan’s nuclear authority said that he feared there would be further leaks. . . . In a letter to the UN secretary general, [former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland] Mitsuhei Murata says the official radiation figures published by Tepco cannot be trusted. He says he is extremely worried about the lack of a sense of crisis in Japan and abroad.”

Appletopia: Media Technology and the Religious Imagination of Steve Jobs (Brett T. Robinson, Baylor University Press, 2013)
A new book, published just two weeks ago. Here’s a portion of the official publisher’s description (and also see the next two items below): “Media and culture critic Brett T. Robinson reconstructs Steve Jobs’ imagination for digital innovation in transcendent terms. Robinson portrays how the confluence of Jobs’ religious, philosophical, and technological thought was embodied in Apple’s most memorable advertising campaigns. From Zen Buddhism and Catholicism to dystopian and futurist thought, religion defined and branded Jobs’ design methodology. . . . As it turns out, culture was eager to find meaning in the burgeoning technological revolution, naming Jobs as its prophet and Apple the deliverer of his message.”

How Steve Jobs Turned Technology — and Apple — into Religion (An excerpt from Brett T. Robinson’s Appletopia at Wired)
“Apple product launches and conferences remain sacred pilgrimages where Apple fans can congregate, camp, and live together for days at a time to revel in the communal joy of witnessing the transcendent moment of the new product launch. . . . The question that remains is whether this mode of perception brings us any closer to recognizing the transcendent hidden at the heart of that which is not digitized or downloaded.”

The Faux Religion of Steve Jobs (Brett T. Robinson for CNN)
“Baked into Apple products is a troubling paradox. Like a technological Trojan horse, Apple products assail our senses with sumptuous visuals and rich acoustics while unleashing a bevy of addictive and narcissistic habits. The ‘i’ prefix on Apple devices is a constant reminder that personal technology is ultimately all about us.”

Learning how to live (New Statesman)
“Why do we find free time so terrifying? Why is a dedication to work, no matter how physically destructive and ultimately pointless, considered a virtue? Jenny Diski urges you to down tools while you can.”

Let’s Get Lost (Bookforum)
A novelist and inveterate traveler seeks life off the grid. “Nowadays, when cell phones track their owners’ whereabouts, while drones stalk people even in rugged hinterlands in order to kill them for secret reasons, the idea of getting away from it all and building someplace happier, such as Merry Mount, seems more far-fetched than ever. What’s an American to do?”

Robert Anton Wilson & Operation Mindfuck (Disinformation)
An excerpt from the new book United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory by Jesse Walker, focusing on the role of the Discordian Pope, RAW himself. Of special interest here to those who didn’t previously know it is that the famous “Operation Mindfuck” talked about by Wilson and Robert Shea their classic Illuminatus! trilogy was real, and the novel was written as one of its major elements.

Positive Thinking, Seriously (Mitch Horowitz for The Huffington Post)
Mitch is of course the editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin. We have referred to him and his work many times here in the past. His new book One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life is scheduled for publication in January 2014. In the linked article, he briefly talks about the fact that nowadays “positive thinking is the closest America has to a national religion. It is the foundational idea of business motivation, mind-body medicine, prosperity ministering and much more.” He also shares the following wonderful mini-documentary, which I heartily encourage you to watch.

About

The Teeming Brain explores news, trends, and developments in religion, horror, science fiction, fantasy, the paranormal, creativity, consciousness, and culture. It also tracks apocalyptic and dystopian trends in science, technology, politics, ecology, economics, the media, the arts, education, and society at large. Its founder and primary author is Matt Cardin.

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Praise for the Teem

FOR MATT CARDIN:

"[Dark Awakenings is] a thinking-man's book of the macabre...Cardin's tales are rich with references to Lovecraft, Nietzsche, and other writers whose work gives them unusual philosophic depth." – Publishers Weekly

“It’s a bold writer who, in this day and age, tries to make modern horror fiction out of theology, but Cardin pulls it off.” – Darrell Schweitzer

“In the tradition of Poe and Lovecraft, Cardin's accomplishments as a writer are paralleled by his expertise as a literary critic and theorist.” – Thomas Ligotti

“Matt Cardin is one of those rare horror authors who is also a true scholar and intellectual.” – Jack Haringa

FOR RICHARD GAVIN:

"Literate horror fans who have yet to encounter Canadian author Richard Gavin are in for a treat. The lyrical prose is often at a higher level than usual presentations of otherworldly demons and malevolent forces." – Publishers Weekly

"Richard Gavin is one of the bright new stars in contemporary weird fiction. His richly textured style, deft character portrayal, and powerful horrific conceptions make every one of his tales a pleasure to read." – S. T. Joshi

"Gavin's storytelling can be masterly. As with Machen and Blackwood at their best, an epiphany or illumination is achieved, though Gavin's mysticism is darker and distinctly his own." – Wormwood

FOR STUART YOUNG:

"No one can accuse Stuart Young of avoiding the big issues -- with insight and verve, he tackles head-on the existence of God, the mystery of human consciousness and the transformative effects of psychedelic drugs." – Mark Chadbourne